Seton Hall at DePaul

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DEPAUL

LOCATION
Chicago, IL

CONFERENCE
Big East

LAST SEASON
3-29 (.094)

CONFERENCE RECORD
0-20 (11th)

STARTERS RETURNING/LOST
0/5

NICKNAME
Blue Demons

COLORS
Royal Blue & Scarlet

HOMECOURT
Wintrust Arena (10,387)

OFFICIAL WEBSITE
DePaulBlueDemons.com

COACH
Chris Holtmann (Taylor ’94)

RECORD AT SCHOOL
First year

CAREER RECORD
251-171 (13 years)

ASSISTANTS
Jack Owens (Eastern Illinois ’99)
Bryan Mullins (Southern Illinois ’09)
Paris Parham (Minnesota State ’95)

WINS (LAST 5 YRS.)
16-5-15-10-3

KENPOM RATING (LAST 5 YRS.)
94-141-103-135-304

2023-24 FINISH
Lost Big East first round.

 

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On Feb. 14, Chris Holtmann was fired by Ohio State. On March 14—the day after the De Paul lost its 20th consecutive game and wrapped up the worst season in its 101-year history—Holtmann was hired by DePaul.

During that month between gigs, Holtmann heard from lots of friends and well-wishers.

“One of the things I found really valuable during the process was advice from coaching friends,” Holtmann says. “Whether it was Jay Wright or Ed Cooley or Tom Izzo or Matt Painter or a text from a number of guys. I got so many texts and calls from colleagues across the country. My Big Ten fraternity. Tony Bennett sent me a really nice long text. I developed a friendship with [SEC commissioner] Greg Sankey and he called and gave me some really good thoughts. You just appreciate them taking the time because they don’t have to, right? Most of them have got a lot of stuff going on. They’re coaching their own team or running a conference.”

Some called to offer Holtmann solace during a painful time. Some reached out to help plot the next career move for a man with seven NCAA Tournament appearances in the last 10 years.

Some got in touch to say: “You’re considering DePaul? Are you bleeping nuts?” “

I got a lot of that,” Holtmann says with a smile. “I did. I got a lot of that. I got a lot of, ‘What? What are you doing?’ I probably had people I trust in the media who were maybe more skeptical than anybody. ‘Why would I make such a decision?’ I had one media member basically say, ‘Do not take a call if they call.’ ”

Why might a call from DePaul be labeled Scam Likely? Well, in case you’re unfamiliar with the Blue Demons’ struggles over the last 20 years, here’s the scoop: In 2004, Dave Leitao directed DePaul to the NCAA Tournament’s second round.

Since that time, a whopping 263 schools have appeared in the NCAA Tournament—including every other major-conference school—but not DePaul. You can’t find a “name” program that has been gone from the tournament longer. Maybe Loyola Marymount, for those who remember Bo Kimble and Hank Gathers? Jacksonville, for those who recall Artis Gilmore? Seattle, for those who reminisce over Elgin Baylor?

Also, with just three winning seasons over the last 20 years, it’s not like DePaul has been particularly close to any NCAA Tournaments.

Since the Blue Demons jumped from Conference USA to the Big East in 2005, they have produced a 211-380 overall record (.357) and a 66-275 Big East mark (.194). That’s 3.5 Big East wins per year. Other schools accomplish that in a fortnight.

So why the heck did Holtmann choose DePaul? Well, f ifth-year athletic director DeWayne Peevy and third-year President Robert L. Manuel—you can call him President Rob—sold him while not coming off like salesmen.

“DeWayne was a major factor in me coming because he was such an advocate for what he felt like this program could be,” Holtmann says. “Hungry players, hungry coaches, hungry ADs. It’s always an attractive environment where they’re so hungry for success. And I felt like with Dewayne and the president, they both were really hungry to see a level of success.”

“DeWayne did come with, ‘Here’s what we have. Here’s what I think we can do in terms of a new practice facility on the horizon. Here’s our NIL investment now. I know we’ve got to continue to improve it, but here’s where we think we can get it to.’

“He said to me on a number of occasions, ‘I want somebody who has had success and who can help us envision what that’s going to look like and how that happens [here]. He mentioned a couple times, ‘This is not all about me saying we’re going to do it this way and this way and this way. I’m kind of looking for a partner who says, This is what we need.’ You tell me, to some degree, what we need and I’ll tell you if we can do it.’ ”

Peevy and Manuel flew to Holtmann’s Columbus home in late February to make their pitch. They showed their plans for a $60 million practice facility on campus. T hey shared the remodeling work being done to modernize the Sullivan Athletic Center, where men’s basketball shares a gym (and used to share an undersized weight room) with women’s basketball team and volleyball and other sports. They vowed the fanbase would deliver a bigger NIL budget. They promised the funds to hire a strong staff.

Negatives? Well, Holtmann knew he had $15 million coming to him from Ohio State for the next four years—minus whatever his next school paid him. He could afford to wait for the right situation. Aided by some conversations with John Calipari, who worked closely with Peevy for several years at Kentucky, Holtmann decided DePaul was the right place.

“I was really hungry to coach,” Holtmann says. “I can’t emphasize enough Dewayne’s passion and vision—and also President Rob—and I felt like the people that I talked to who knew the situation well felt like there could be an opportunity here.

It’s going to take time. T here’s no question about it. But people felt like there were possibilities here.” And so Holtmann began to build a program from the studs. He started by hiring former Miami (Ohio) head coach Jack Owens, who joined him from Ohio State, and just-deposed Southern Illinois head coach Bryan Mullins, who has endless Illinois and Midwest contacts.

 

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Together with new director of recruiting Tyler Hicks, who had been a head student manager at Ohio State before joining former Holtmann assistant Ryan Pedon at Illinois State, the group had the rare opportunity to build however they liked because nobody returned from last year’s 3-29 team.

“Those guys really spearheaded early recruiting and putting a roster together,” Holtmann says. “And it gave me a chance to say, ‘I want the roster to look like this.’ We had a [NCAA] tournament team each of my first f ive years at Butler and we had versatility along our front line in most every case. It gave us a chance to take stock and think, ‘This is how we want to do it now. This is how we want to do it in the future.

“We really focused on the point guard position first and then adding some size. IQ and skill were a main focus for our group.”

The first player in the boat was 6-7, 215-pound senior combo forward Troy D’Amico (9.3 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 2.6 apg, 32.4 mpg, .364 3PT, .870 FT), a Chicago-area native who played for Mullins the previous three years at Southern Illinois.

The last player in the boat was the one with the highest upside: Arkansas combo guard Layden Blocker (3.7 ppg, 1.0 apg, 0.8 spg, .483 FG, .118 3PT, .621 FT), a 6-2 sophomore who ranked No. 41 on RSCI Hoops’ Class of 2003 Top 100 list.

When all was said and signed, here’s the balanced group that met each other and bonded during DePaul’s summer workouts:

SENIORS (3): D’Amico; 6-5 former UIC combo guard Isaiah Rivera (15.5 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 1.8 apg, 33.5 mpg, .416 3PT); and 6-10, 240-pound former Davidson stretch five David Skogman (13.3 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 1.1 bpg, 24.9 mpg, .470 3PT).

JUNIORS (4): Drake starting point guard Conor Enright (6.9 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 3.2 apg, 26.2 mpg, .439 3PT), 6-2; 6-9 former Louisville forward JJ Traynor (10.1 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 25.5 mpg, .368 3PT); 6-8, 230-pound former Missouri State big NJ Benson (8.6 ppg, 7.9 rpg, 1.6 bpg, 21.8 mpg); and 6-7 former Indiana wing CJ Gunn (6-7, 200, 3.9 ppg, 12.8 mpg, .340 3PT).

SOPHOMORES (3): Blocker, 6-1 Mercer point guard David Thomas (11.0 ppg, 2.3 apg, 22.9 mpg, .402 3PT) and 6-2 Coastal Carolina shooting guard Jacob Meyer (15.7 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 2.6 apg, 1.0 spg, 33.9 mpg, .402 3PT).

FRESHMEN (2): 6-5 wing Chris Riddle (16.2 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 3.2 apg), a Chicago Kenwood High School product who signed with Tony Stubblefield in the fall and maintained his commitment, and wiry 6-9 Milwaukee native Sekou Konneh (22.6 ppg, 10.7 rpg, 2.7 apg), who produced 20 points and 14 rebounds in Wisconsin’s Division 3 championship game to lead led St. Thomas More to the state title.

Some obvious trends: You can’t help but notice those 3-point percentages. Collectively, the 10 Division I transfers canned 39.7 percent of their shots from beyond the arc (304 of 765). Had these 10 been together last year, they would have ranked fourth in the NCAA in 3-point accuracy.

Eight of those 10 transfers are climbing to the high-major level, including four Missouri Valley Conference products D’Amico, Rivera, Enright and Benson. Considering the Valley ranked as the nation’s 10th-best conference last year, that’s not bad. And it fits Holtmann’s desire for hungry players.

And, while it’s always a risk in this age to count on your players returning, DePaul has the potential to retain nine of its 12 scholarship players.

“It was a little bit of a long play for us,” Holtmann says. “It was a program build for me. I wanted as many multi-year transfers as possible. Studies have shown time after time—there was another one that came out by Evan Miyakawa this year—that you benefit from multi-year transfers in the second and third years. Now, can they have an impact in year one? Sure. But the real benefit comes in their second and third years.

“Getting Connor [Enright] was important because we had a proven point guard. And it allowed us to go and get some guys who can play on and off the ball. We felt like Layden is just scratching the surface of the player he can be. That was appealing to us—seeing what type of player he can grow into.

“Skogman is a skilled five. Kaleb Wesson was that for us at Ohio State. Andrew Chrabascz, when we went to the Sweet 16 [in 2017 at Butler], he was a skilled five. We played Kyle Young and EJ Liddell together at Ohio State, they were both skilled fives. David makes 3s. He makes 40-plus percent at multiple attempts per game and provides a big body.”

 

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BLUE RIBBON ANALYSIS

BACKCOURT B–

FRONTCOURT C+

BENCH/DEPTH B

INTANGIBLES B+

How many coaches are handed a giant lump of clay and given the green light (and $1.5 million in greenbacks) to sculpt whatever they deem appropriate and necessary? If that’s being bleepin’ nuts, then that’s what Holtmann must be.

He got to hire the staff he wanted. He retained DePaul assistant Paris Parham, a Chicago native with 35 years’ worth of relationships, added former Butler head coach LaVall Jordan and brought in assistant Brandon Bailey—a DePaul grad who stacked up 13 years of NBA coaching experience before joining Holtmann last year at Ohio State.

He and his wife purchased a $4 million mansion in gorgeous Lincoln Park on Chicago’s north side, which enabled them to get settled in time so their 14-year-old daughter could get settled at a high school she can attend all four years (DePaul Prep). Frequently in the summer, Holtmann enjoyed a 10-minute walk to the gym.

And, instead of being stuck on the sidelines for the f irst time, the 52-year-old Holtmann gets to do what he loves.

“I told my wife the other day when I was coming back from practice: Practice is always the one place where I completely lose track of time—because you’re so invested in what’s going on. I wasn’t ready to put that on pause for even a year.”

Lindsey Willhite